An Unexpected Visit
by SchroedingersKneazle
Summary: Fifty-two years after their duel, after he finally found the third Hallow, Albus Dumbledore visits Grindelwald in Nurmengard.


Gellert Grindelwald was gazing through the bars of his window, looking down on the snowy peaks of the Alps below him. He wrapped himself tightly in his ragged blanket. Even in summer, it was cold up here, in Nurmengard. He had been the only inhabitant of his own fortress now, as he had been for the past fifty-two years.

He heard the door behind him creak. He couldn't remember how long ago it had last been opened, as the house-elves who brought him food and drink used to apparate straight into his cell. He turned around, and saw an old man standing in the door. He was wearing purple robes, and had long silver hair and beard. The only way he recognized him were his brilliant blue eyes. Of course, Albus had aged as well, even if in Gellert's imagination, he still remembered him as the boy he had been almost a hundred years ago.

"Why have you come Albus?" Gellert asked. "Do you want to revel in your triumph, see with your own eyes what I have become?"

"That was not my intention, Gellert." Dumbledore answered, no anger in his voice, still piercing him with his stare. "I just wanted to tell you that I have succeeded. I have found the hallows. All three of them."

Grindelwald's dull eyes suddenly came alive.

"And, how is it? Being Master of Death?" he asked his former friend.

"Alas, I cannot tell you." Albus answered. "I am no more worthy now than we were in our youth."

"How come?" Gellert asked. "Had a change of mind? Went to conquer the world and enslave the muggles?" He asked, a mischievous grin appearing on his face.

"Not at all, Gellert, not at all." Dumbledore said. "But I'm still an impatient, greedy old man. I have been sorely tempted, and paid a great price."

Gellert only now realized Albus' hand was blackened and shriveled. "What happened to your hand?" he asked.

"That's a long tale, and I better starts where it began." Albus said.

"When I disarmed you in our duel, fifty-two years ago, I immediately recognized the wand for what it was. However, I was no closer to discovering the other two hallows than we were in our youth.

At the same time, a young man called Tom Marvolo Riddle graduated from Hogwarts. While I had my suspicions, I had no idea that he would become the most terrible dark wizard in living memory."

Dread seemed to fill Grindelwald's face. "What has he done? I would regret to learn that I inspired…"

"No, nothing like that." Albus said. "Lord Voldemort, as he calls himself today, needed no inspiration. Anyway, he built himself an army, and started an open rebellion, about twenty-five years ago. The ministry at first didn't realize the seriousness of the threat, so I created a resistance movement, the Order of the Phoenix."

"And how is that relevant to the Hallows?" Gellert asked.

"I'll come to it soon." Albus responded. "During that time, a young man called James Potter joined the Order. He was better than anyone else trying to conceal himself. I often wondered what his secret was, and I finally asked him, and you will probably guess what he revealed to me."

"The cloak!" Grindelwald exclaimed.

"Indeed. He wasn't aware of its significance, he thought there was just an unusually powerful spell placed on it, but I knew better. To be completely sure, I asked him to lend me the cloak for a while, which he agreed to. Sadly, two weeks later, he was found dead. Murdered by Lord Voldemort."

"Did you regret taking the cloak from him?" Gellert asked.

"No, even if he had the cloak, it would have been no use to him. The Potters were ambushed by Voldemort, as they had been betrayed by their secret keeper. But the curious thing was, when Voldemort tried to kill their little son, he survived, and Voldemort was vanquished."

"His curse backfired on himself?" Grindelwald said.

"Exactly. And while their son grew up, I kept the cloak. I never regarded it as truly mine, but I would keep it until he turned eleven. My search of the Resurrection Stone, however, was still in vain, and I was beginning to wonder if the Hallow I desired above all others was nothing but a myth."

"But it isn't, otherwise you wouldn't have come." Grindelwald said.

"Indeed, it isn't." Albus answered. "But I had more pressing issues on my mind. As it turned out, Voldemort didn't die that night. In his first year at school, Harry Potter had to face him again, and again, he survived. I wondered how Lord Voldmort managed to survive his own killing curse, and just one year later, I had the explanation. Harry Potter handed me a diary of Tom Riddle. He explained how the diary had managed to manipulate another student into setting a basilisk on her classmates."

"A Horcrux." Gellert answered. "But who would want to make one?"

"Not one Horcrux. If he had only one, the destruction of the diary would have finished him off."

"Horcruxes? Multiple Horcruxes? I didn't know that was possible."

"Me neither. But it was the only explanation. It took me years to track down another one. During that time, Voldemort returned to his full power, making the issue ever more pressing. The Hallows were almost pushed out of my mind, but then I found another Horcrux."

He pulled his blackened hand out of his pocket and presented the ring to Grindelwald. The other old man had a greedy look in his eyes as he realized what Dumbledore had found.

"The resurrection stone? And that Lord Voldemort never knew what it was?" He asked.

"He didn't. There are no people Lord Voldemort would want to bring back to life. Maybe some of his servants, but they're replaceable. I, however, immediately knew what it was, and in my greed, I forgot about the curse that had been placed on it. There I was, eager to see Ariana again, after almost one hundred years. But before I could use it, the curse consumed my hand. It almost killed me. I didn't dare trying it again."

"It was me." Grindelwald suddenly said. "I'm so sorry Albus. I regret everything."

"Even if it was you who cast the curse, I am equally responsible." Dumbledore said. "However, I am pleased to hear that you feel remorse. That makes you an infinitely better man than Voldemort."

In any case, now you know the tale how I found the Hallows. I felt I owed you that. Farewell, Gellert."

"Farewell, Albus." Grindelwald said.

 **Written for the Potions Class Challenge/Competition:** **Occulus Potion** **–** _ **A potion that restores the drinker's sight**_ **. Write about somebody finally finding out the truth about something or someone. Alternatively, write about two people meeting each other again after a long time.**


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